An Island

This is certainly a piece of fiction with literary merit, but it felt too detached, not personal enough to really get me. For one, the novel is rather an extended short story and that is probably the main issue. The protagonist and the story are rather presented in the distanced way that is so characteristic for many short stories. Even though the reader gets to know Samuel's backstory, the fact that the narrative remains silent about the exact setting gives the novel the air of possessing a universal meaning on the one hand, but is also exhausting on the other hand, because as a reader you always feel like you are constantly asked to understand and explain the allegorical meaning of it all. To me this is a bit too forced. I prefer to read texts, which allow me to make up my own mind about whether I want to make more of it. All in all it is very well written and as a short story it would probably work extremely well - as a novel it was okay.